Posted on 02/08/2002 11:08:19 AM PST by Blood of Tyrants
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A driver's license examiner and five others, including three alleged illegal aliens, were charged in a plot to buy phony Tennessee licenses for $1,000 apiece.
According to an FBI complaint filed Wednesday, illegal aliens Mohammed Fares, Mostafa Said Abou-Shahin and Abdelmuhsen Mahmid Hammad drove from New York to obtain licenses.
The complaint said the trio were met outside a testing center Tuesday by Sakhera Hammad and Khaled Odtllah, alleged middlemen who filled out the necessary paperwork, charging them each $1,000. Testing center examiner Katherine Smith then issued the licenses under the names of Fares and two others, the complaint said.
The complaint did not identify the men's nationalities.
Federal officials stepped up their investigation of phony identification after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Federal prosecutor Tim DiScenza declined to say if the defendants had any ties to terrorist groups.
The five men were being held without bail. Smith was released on her own recognizance.
The law did not require the illegals to have so much as even a shred of proof that they even lived in Tennessee and within days of the signing, word was spread of this free goodie throught the illegal alien community, and literally every DL testing center in the state was swamped with tens of thousands of illegal aliens trying to get their DL's.
In spite of this and 9-11, the DemocRATS and our RINO governor has insisted that the law does not make terrorism easier.
By Bill Dries
dries@gomemphis.com
The arrest in Memphis of six suspects Wednesday on charges they were getting driver's licenses fraudulently is an isolated incident, officials with the Tennessee Department of Safety said Thursday.
Wanda Adams, assistant director of driver licensing for the Department of Safety, said she knew of only one other case of a license examiner's involvement in issuing fraudulent licenses, and it happened two years ago in Davidson County.
Roland Colson, executive assistant to Safety Commissioner Denny King, declined to talk about specific measures in place to guard against such fraud.
"The more that we tell you on ways or methods that we check to find out what people are doing, the more they are going to know about how to go about getting around those methods," Colson said. "This particular person was caught . . . The mechanism that we've got in place did work."
The Criminal Investigations Division of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, which is part of the Department of Safety, worked with the Memphis FBI on the case.
Among those charged in the federal complaint filed this week was Katherine Smith, a driver's license examiner at the license testing station at 6340 Summer.
Smith, an examiner for nine years, is accused of issuing licenses for suspect Kahled Odtllah which he then sold for $1,000 or more apiece, according to the charges.
An FBI affidavit filed with Wednesday's criminal complaint said Smith didn't require any proof of Tennessee residency as she issued licenses Tuesday for three men "from the Mid-East, who were illegally in the United States" and drove to Memphis from New York to get the licenses.
Odtllah and co-defendant Sakhera Hammad, described by the affidavit as another middleman, were also at the testing station and were arrested later that morning with the others.
The case began with a tip from a New York FBI agent who said a confidential informant told him of the trip to Memphis for the licenses.
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, federal agents have paid closer attention to allegations of identity theft and identity fraud. Prosecutors are not commenting on whether they believe there were any terrorist motives involved in Tuesday's arrests.
- Bill Dries: 529-2643
February 8, 2002
Probably because there aren't any.
According to an FBI complaint filed Wednesday, illegal aliens Mohammed Fares, Mostafa Said Abou-Shahin and Abdelmuhsen Mahmid Hammad drove from New York to obtain licenses.
Prepare to see outcry of "profiling." Could these guys be trying to get on the voters rolls to help Al carry his home state in the next election?
Nothing to see here....Move along....
Nothing to see here....Move along....
That seems unlikely and unnecessary, considering the number of illegal Mexican voters that the Tyson organized crime syndicate has imported into Tennessee in the last few years.
But there've been some interesting rumbles in response to TN Republican governor Don Sundquist's sellout attempts to initiate a state income tax [illegal, as written under the existing state constitution, if they were to pay any attention to it] and it's quite possible that neither the Dems nor the Republicans will be happy when that time rolls around.
And with every passing day, more and more scandals linked to the Clinton-Gore years return to drive more nails in Gore's political coffin. Remember that it was his investigatory panel that had reccomended increases in airline security, until the right Gore campaign contributions came along from the airline industry.
-archy-/-
No doubt a tactic taken from the Jesse Jackson school of finance.
It seems none of the other media in Tennessee will broadcast this story (protecting democrats it seems).
This story really needs greater visibility... Time for Freepers to get to work...
I wondered, why Tennessee? Then, while looking up something else about M. Atta, I found this. Scroll down about 6 paragraphs. Maybe they were trying to complete their "assignment".
Why? Of the group (assuming she is American) she is the most despicable of all.
In Michigan, it's the Detroit branches of the secretary of state that issues valid licenses to illegal aliens. A bunch of ragheads were caught recently trying to get Michigan licenses, so they could then get New York licences. I guess a NY license is more valuable to terrorists.
They came to Detroit to try to get licenses because the Detroit branch offices regularly look the other way when presented phony ID, car titles, and certificates of insurance. It's not done to aid terrorists, but to help Detroiters get licenses under assumed names, drive without insurance, and "paper" stolen cars. If they didn't, 90% of Detroit residents would have to walk.
So now terorists are simply taking advantage of a "service" provided to democRAT voters in Detroit.
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